Ryan (R-Wisc.), who was re-elected by a landslide on Tuesday, said he didn’t know if the president has learned from Tuesday’s results, in which the GOP wrested control of the House from Democrats but was unable to take the Senate.

Reportedly, Obama had said in previous published remarks that his failure was one of not communicating effectively to constituents about what his administration has achieved, rather than of their unhappiness with the Democratic agenda.

“I don’t know if the president is willing to do that type of reform that’s necessary to avoid a debt crisis in this country,” he added. "If we give up and go in the direction that the president has gone in, we have given up on the American people.”

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Ryan said he was in favor of bringing solvency to Social Security, which he added was “pretty easy to fix.” He said that everything about Social Security should be up for review, except for a raise in payroll taxes, which went up this year as a result of the health-care act.

"Achieving Social Security solvency would buy us time and space in the credit market,” added Ryan. “It would show that we’re serious, that’ we’re going to get our fiscal house in order.”